- SEC Chair Gary Gensler plans to advocate for the regulation of crypto assets by the SEC in a Senate Banking Committee hearing on September 12.
- Despite recent legal setbacks for the SEC in cases against Grayscale and Ripple, Gensler maintains that crypto assets are securities and should be subject to SEC oversight.
- Gensler believes that most crypto tokens meet the Howey test, which determines if an asset or transaction can be classified as a security.
- In July, the SEC suffered a defeat in the Ripple case, with the judge ruling that the sales of XRP tokens did not violate federal securities laws.
- In August, the SEC also lost against Grayscale in its rejection of the company’s request to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin ETF.
- Blockchain-based payments network LBRY, found guilty of violating securities laws, has filed an appeal against the SEC’s ruling.
- LBRY’s decision to appeal the ruling indicates a reversal of its previous plan to wind down.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler will affirm his stance on the regulation of crypto assets by the SEC in a Senate hearing on September 12. Despite recent legal defeats against Grayscale and Ripple, Gensler believes that most crypto assets should be classified as securities and subject to SEC oversight. These assets, according to Gensler, are in widespread noncompliance with securities laws. The judge’s ruling in the Ripple case, which found that the sales of XRP tokens did not violate federal securities laws, is expected to be referenced by other crypto companies facing lawsuits from the SEC. The SEC’s rejection of Grayscale’s request to convert its Bitcoin Trust into an ETF was also declared “arbitrary and capricious” by a judge. LBRY, a blockchain-based payments network, has filed an appeal against the SEC’s ruling after initially planning to wind down.
